1. Technical Field
This application relates to customization of web portal applications, and more particularly relates to a method and system for supporting the customization of web portal applications using profiles such that highly customized web portal applications may be developed based on a single software code base.
2. Related Art
More businesses are utilizing the Internet to provide services to other businesses or individuals. Recently, web portal applications, which allow businesses to provide information and services to others on a web site hosted on the Internet, have become a popular means of providing such services. To provide a certain service on the Internet, a web portal application specifically designed to provide such a service was developed. Since a web portal application was designed specifically to provide a certain service, new web portal applications needed to be developed from the ground up to provide a different type of service or to add support for an additional type of service. In addition, as the number of businesses utilizing web portal applications increased and therefore the number of businesses providing similar services on the Internet increased, a need to differentiate the look and feel of the web portal application arose. Also, the user base to which the businesses provided services became larger and more diverse. To accommodate the diversity of the user base and the different types of services offered through the web portal application, a need arose to provide a different application behavior and a different look and feel to suit the requirements of each user.
However, software code underlying the web portal application, in order to provide a new service or to provide a different look and feel for different users, had to be significantly—or even entirely—re-written, and a significant amount of effort and resources had to be invested.
Thus, the technical challenges include providing a method and system that allow an efficient, reliable and cost-effective way to develop a web portal application suited for different kinds of services and users.